A GM openly talking about sabermetrics?

Even Billy Beane and Paul DePodesta didn’t really openly talk about sabermetrics, they just acknowledged they used them.

MLB.com had a Q&A with new Pittsburgh GM Neal Huntington (hat-tip to Fire Joe Morgan), and here’s what Huntington had to say:

We are going to utilize several objective measures of player performance to evaluate and develop players. We’ll rely on the more traditional objective evaluations: OPS (on base percentage plus slugging percentage) , WHIP (walks and hits per inning pitched), Runs Created, ERC (Component ERA), GB/FB (ground ball to fly ball ratio), K/9 (strikeouts per nine innings), K/BB (strikeouts to walks ratio), BB%, etc., but we’ll also look to rely on some of the more recent variations: VORP (value over replacement player), Relative Performance, EqAve (equivalent average), EqOBP (equivalent on base percentage), EqSLG (equivalent slugging percentage), BIP% (balls put into play percentage), wOBA (weighted on base average), Range Factor, PMR (probabilistic model of range) and Zone Rating.

Holy crap. Even I don’t look at a lot of those. Huntington did point out that they’re going to rely on scouts too:

… we will continue to stress the importance of our subjective evaluations. Succinctly stated, we believe that a combination of quality objective and subjective analysis will allow us to maximize our probability of success and to make the best possible decisions.

Way to go Neal. I will now be pulling for the Pirates to have some success more than I usually do. Their fanbase deserves better than what they’ve gotten, and it would be great to see a GM who openly discusses sabermetrics succeed.

The Clippers are 4-0?

The Clippers are 4-0.

No, I don’t expect this to continue. By many accounts, they’re not supposed to be very good this year.

I couldn’t tell you exactly why they’re winning (I’m a Clipper fan, but don’t analyze them to death like the other teams I’m a fan of). Sam Cassell scored 35 points against the Pacers, and I don’t expect that to happen every night. But they’re winning, giving hope to a season that wasn’t supposed to be a thrilling one without Elton Brand.

There are only three other unbeaten teams left in the NBA — Detroit, Boston and New Orleans.

At the very least, this will be fun while it lasts. And as a fan of a historically bad team, that’s what you hope for.

Links of the Day

Tom Izzo kicked his players out of their new locker room. (Larry Brown Sports)

Dan Shaughnessy, once again, is a moron. (Bugs & Cranks)

EDSBS has a great take on Karl Dorrell, and it’s both intentionally and unintentionally funny. See if you could figure out why. (Every Day Should Be Saturday)

Another week, another funny spoof on ESPN’s power rankings (Hugging Harold Reynolds)

The Big East tourney is expanding to include all 16 teams — meaning teams could play five games in five days. That’s a lot of basketball. (Storming the Floor)